Check-book.



PATENTED AUG. 18, 1903.-

M. P. EXLINE.

011301: BOOK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Patented August 18, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

MARCUS P. EXLINE, "OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

CHECK-BOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 736,832, dated August 18, 1903. Application filed June 2, 1903. Serial No. 159,815: (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Masons P. EXLINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dal las,in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Check-Books; and I do hereby declare'the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in movable covers designed particularly for holding checks and the stubs thereof for "cus tomers use, such as are employed by banks for general distribution among their customers; and it consists of certain novel constructions, combination, and arrangements of parts, as are hereinafter described and claimed.

The object of my present invention is to improve the construction shown in my Letters Patent No. 592,929, dated NovemberfZ, 1897,and my Letters Patent No. 647,389, dated April 10, 1900, the present improvements having relation to the eyelet and the threaded fastening stems or tubes and the manner of securing the strip covering the stems or tubes within the binding of the book.

Checks in sheet form are punched in such a manner as to exactly register with openings provided in the binder for holding the stubs, which by means of eyelets inserted in the openings and securely clamped furnish a permanently bound book of checks and stubs ready to be placed in the removable cover. The said cover is provided with screw-threaded tubes or hollow stems which are passed through the eyelets and held in position by means of removable screwthreaded caps which enter and engage the threads of the hollow tubes or stems. The stubs when the checks have been used and turned out can be readilyremoved by unscrewing the caps and withdrawing the said stubs, which will be in bound form and which bound stubs can be stored away by a customerfor future reference, and thecover can be used many times over.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of the checkbook and cover therefor constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through a portion of the same.

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the metallic fastening-strip for the stems or tubes. Fig. 4 is a perspective fragmentary View of one of the stems, showingits mannerof attachment to the binding-strip for the stubs.

1 in the drawings represents my improved removable cover constructed in accordance with my invention, which is made of any suitable strong material adapted for the purpose, formed with a flexible back 2. To one side of the flexible back and along a portion of the cover which constitutes the lower lid the thin metallic strip 3 is secured by placing the strip upon the top of the lower lid along its inner edge and turning its ends down upon the outside of the cover. This metallic strip is further secured in place by a portion of the hind ing-leather or other material which constitutes the flexible back or hinge 2, and the said metallic strip is further secured in place and concealed from view by means of a strip of'leather or other suitable material, as 4,

which latter is cemented or glued on the top of the strip and extends, preferably, across the'flexible hinge from one lid to the 1 other. The hinge-leather 2 is preferably folded down at its ends and held in place by gluing and also by means of said binding-strip 4. The metallic strip 3 is also further preferably held in position by means of rivets or eyelets which are passed through the same and through the lid of the cover and are securely clenched in position. By use of these rivets the metallic strip is made more secure and is prevented from Working loose or buckling up at or near the center. Before the strip 3 is bound in the lowerlid of the covertwo threaded metallic securing stems or tubes 5 are fastened to the metallic strip by means of riveting, soldering, or any other suitable manner. These stems 5 are located near the edges of the cover, are solid, preferably internally threaded,and project suitable distances above the lower lid of the cover.

6 represents a book of bound checks provided with stubs 7 at one end and which are permanently held together at their stub end by means of an approximately rectangular binder 8, preferably of metal, the binder being secured to the stubs by means of an open eyelet 9. These eyelets differ and the manner of applying the same to the stubs and the binder differ from those heretofore disclosed in patents heretofore granted to me in that the said eyelets project through the stubs and binder to such an extent as to permit the slitted ends of the same to be readily turned or bent either with the fingers or with a tool designed for that purpose, which ends can be readily raised and bent to a'straight position again at any time it is desired to remove the eyelet, which could not be done in my former construction, as in the said construction the eyelets were usually riveted securely. These bent tubes or eyelets, as heretofore stated, extend entirely through the stub ends of the checks and through the binder 8 and are retained in position by flanges formed on one end of said tube, which bear upon one outside surface of the binder, and by turning over the long projecting prongs or other end of said tubes upon the other outside surface of the said binder.

In order to bind the sheets of checks within the cover, it is simply necessary to pass the eyelet over the threaded tubes or stems 5 and secure the caps 10 into the said threaded tubes or stems 5, whereby the bound checks will be securely held in position within the cover. When it is desired to disengage the bound sheets of checks from the cover, it can be accomplished by simply unscrewing the caps and removing the same and slipping the eyelets off from. the tubes.

It will be observed that with my construction the checks are bound together by means of the open tubes 9, which latter are held in place by means of flanges and the long prongs provided on the same, which construction and arrangement enable me to keep the checks in a compact condition always ready for use and when the checks have all been used to file away the stubs in a bound form and without occupying nearly as much space in a safe as would be the case if the bound stubs had to always remain permanently in the cover and with greater security and with greater facility for restocking than if the stubs were only removed from the cover in the form of loose sheets.

By the use of myinvention banks in comparatively small towns having facilities for printing but not for binding are greatly convenienced, for the reason that when a customer desires a check-book with his name upon the end of each check, for instance, it is simply necessary for the banker to take as many punched checks as would be required to make up the sized book desired and send them to his local printer for printing the name of his customer thereon, and then bind the printed checks with stubs attached by use of the binding-strip 8 and then place the same in the cover, as just described.

It will be observed that neither the eyelets nor the screw-threaded caps extend through or into both lids of the cover, but are attached to one of the lids to one side of the flexible hinge.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A bank check-book comprising in its construction an upper and a lower lid secured together by a flexible back, threaded tubes secured to one of the backs and projecting upwardly from the same, sheets of checks provided with apertures and secured together by means of a binder also provided with apertures which register with the apertures in the sheets of checks, eyelets passed through the apertures in the binder and in the checks, said eyelets being formed with a flange on one end and with long prongs on the other end, which latter are adapted to be turned over by the fingers or with a suitable tool so as to bear against one of the outer faces of the binder, and threaded caps which pass through the eyelets and engage the threaded tubes, substantially as described.

2. A bank check-book comprising in its construction an upper and a lower lid secured together by a flexible back, internally-threaded tubes secured to'one of the backs and projecting upwardly from the same, sheets of checks provided with apertures and secured together by means of a binder also provided with apertures which register with the apertures in the sheets of checks, eyelets passed through the apertures in the binder and in the checks, said eyelets being formed with a flange on one end and with long prongs on the other end, which latter are designed to be turned over by the fingers so as to bear against one of the outer faces of the binder, and flanged, threaded caps passed through the eyelets and engaging the internallythreaded tubes so as to bear with their flanges upon the stub-binder for the checks, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARCUS P. EXLINE.

Witnesses:

C. A. BLAKE, W. R. BARNES. 

